Pattern · Word Order· Grammar & Morphosyntax

Basic word order

In what order do languages arrange subject, object, and verb?

Of the six logically possible orderings of subject, object, and verb, only two account for most of the world: SOV (subject-object-verb, the largest group — Japanese, Hindi, Korean, Turkish, Quechua, Navajo) and SVO (English, Mandarin, Romance, most Bantu). VSO (verb-initial) is consistent across Celtic, much of Polynesian, Classical Arabic, and Biblical Hebrew. VOS shows up famously in Malagasy. Object-initial orders (OVS, OSV) are vanishingly rare and the textbook examples — Hixkaryana, Nadëb, Warao — are still debated. Many languages have no fixed dominant order at all: word order is set by information structure (Latin, Sanskrit, Hungarian, Russian to a lesser extent) or by extensive scrambling (Warlpiri, Dyirbal).

Strategies

SOV

[S] [O] [V]

Subject – Object – Verb. The most common order globally (≈45% of the WALS sample).

Japanese · SOVKorean · SOVAinu · SOVTurkish · SOVAzerbaijani · SOVTurkmen · SOVUzbek · SOVUyghur · SOVKazakh · SOVKyrgyz · SOVTatar · SOVBashkir · SOVChuvash · SOVSakha (Yakut) · SOVMongolian (Khalkha) · SOVBuryat · SOVKalmyk · SOVManchu · SOVEvenki · SOVHindi · SOVUrdu · SOVBengali · SOVPunjabi · SOVMarathi · SOVGujarati · SOVNepali · SOVSinhala · SOVAssamese · SOVOdia · SOVSindhi · SOVPali · SOVPersian (Farsi) · SOVTajik · SOVPashto · SOVKurdish (Kurmanji) · SOVOssetian · SOVBalochi · SOVGeorgian · SOVMingrelian · SOVAvar · SOVLezgian · SOVAdyghe · SOVAbkhaz · SOVArmenian · SOVMansi · SOVKhanty · SOVUdmurt · SOVKomi-Zyrian · SOVMari (Meadow) · SOVErzya (Mordvinic) · SOVTibetan · SOVBurmese · SOVYi (Nuosu) · SOVDzongkha · SOVNewar · SOVMeitei (Manipuri) · SOVLisu · SOVTamil · SOVTelugu · SOVKannada · SOVMalayalam · SOVTulu · SOVBrahui · SOVBasque · SOVInuktitut · SOVKalaallisut (Greenlandic) · SOVCentral Yupik · SOVNavajo · SOVCherokee · SOVLakota · SOVHopi · SOVQuechua · SOVAymara · SOVGuaraní · SOVAmharic · SOVTigrinya · SOVSomali · SOVOromo · SOVKet · SOVChukchi · SOVNivkh (Gilyak) · SOVBurushaski · SOVKalam · SOVAkkadian · SOVSantali · SOVBambara · SOVKhoekhoe (Nama) · SOVWayuu (Wayuunaiki) · SOVHarari · SOVDahalo · SOVSumerian · SOVElamite · SOVHittite · SOVSaraiki · SOVJeju · SOVTarahumara (Rarámuri) · SOVBribri · SOVKuna (Guna) · SOVKogi · SOVCha’palaa · SOVYanomamö · SOVWailaki · SOVYelî Dnye · SOVZaghawa · SOVJapanese Sign Language · SOV

SVO

[S] [V] [O]

Subject – Verb – Object. The second-largest group (≈42%).

Finnish · SVOEnglish · SVOGerman · SVO / V2Dutch · SVO / V2Afrikaans · SVO / V2Swedish · SVO / V2Danish · SVO / V2Norwegian · SVO / V2Icelandic · SVO / V2Faroese · SVO / V2Yiddish · SVO / V2French · SVOSpanish · SVOItalian · SVOPortuguese · SVORomanian · SVOCatalan · SVOGalician · SVOOccitan · SVORomansh · SVOSardinian · SVORussian · SVOUkrainian · SVOBelarusian · SVOPolish · SVOCzech · SVOSlovak · SVOBulgarian · SVOMacedonian · SVOSerbian · SVOCroatian · SVOSlovenian · SVOGreek (Modern) · SVOAlbanian · SVOLithuanian · SVOLatvian · SVOEstonian · SVOMandarin Chinese · SVOCantonese · SVOWu (Shanghainese) · SVOMin Nan (Hokkien) · SVOHakka · SVOVietnamese · SVOThai · SVOLao · SVOKhmer · SVOMon · SVOZhuang · SVOShan · SVOHmong · SVOKhasi · SVOIndonesian · SVOMalay · SVOJavanese · SVOSundanese · SVOAcehnese · SVOBalinese · SVOMinangkabau · SVOPalauan · SVOMarshallese · SVOSwahili · SVOZulu · SVOXhosa · SVOShona · SVOChichewa (Nyanja) · SVOKinyarwanda · SVOKirundi · SVOLuganda · SVOKikuyu (Gĩkũyũ) · SVOLingala · SVOKongo (Kikongo) · SVOTsonga · SVOYoruba · SVOIgbo · SVOAkan (Twi) · SVOEwe · SVOFon · SVOWolof · SVOFula (Fulfulde) · SVOSango · SVOHausa · SVOAssyrian Neo-Aramaic · SVOMaltese · SVOEgyptian Arabic · SVOMoroccan Arabic (Darija) · SVOHebrew (Modern) · SVODinka · SVODholuo · SVOTok Pisin · SVONahuatl · SVOEsperanto · SVOCoptic · SVOJuǀ’hoan · SVOFranco-Provençal (Arpitan) · SVOWalloon · SVOPiedmontese · SVOLigurian · SVOLombard · SVOCorsican · SVOAsturian · SVORomagnol · SVOExtremaduran · SVOChavacano · SVOPapiamento · SVOMiddle English · SVOOld French · V2 / SVO!Xóõ (Taa) · SVOIdo · SVOVolapük · SVOQuenya · SVO

VSO

[V] [S] [O]

Verb – Subject – Object. Robust in Celtic, Polynesian, Classical Semitic, and parts of Mesoamerica.

Welsh · VSOIrish · VSOScottish Gaelic · VSOBreton · VSOCornish · VSOManx · VSOArabic (MSA) · VSOBiblical Hebrew · VSOClassical Syriac · VSOTamazight (Berber) · VSOMaasai · VSOTagalog (Filipino) · VSO / VOSCebuano · VSO / VOSIlocano · VSOHiligaynon · VSOSamoan · VSOTongan · VSOHawaiian · VSOMāori · VSOTahitian · VSOFijian · VSOKʼicheʼ · VSOMam · VSOZapotec · VSOMixtec · VSOOld Welsh · VSOGeʽez · VSOPunic · VSOPhoenician · VSOHalkomelem · VSOSquamish · VSOKwak’wala · VSOTsimshian · VSOKaramojong · VSOTeso · VSO

VOS

[V] [O] [S]

Verb – Object – Subject. Rare; textbook case is Malagasy.

Yucatec Maya · VOSTzotzil · VOSMalagasy · VOSMixe (Ayuujk) · VOSZoque · VOS

OVS

[O] [V] [S]

Object – Verb – Subject. Extremely rare; Hixkaryana is the canonical attestation.

Hixkaryana · OVSKlingon · OVS

Free / no dominant

[…] driven by information structure

Word order is determined pragmatically — by topic, focus, or contrast — rather than by a fixed syntactic template. Includes Latin, Sanskrit, Hungarian, and many Australian languages.

Cree · free / no dominantOjibwe · free / no dominantMohawk · free / no dominantLatin · free / no dominantAncient Greek · free / no dominantSanskrit · free / no dominantOld Church Slavonic · free / no dominantGothic · free / no dominantHungarian · free / no dominantNorthern Sami · free / no dominantWarlpiri · free / no dominantDyirbal · free / no dominantPitjantjatjara · free / no dominantOld English · free / mixed OV-VOAequian · freeOld Egyptian · free / VSO-leaningNez Perce · free / SOV-leaningMurrinh-Patha · freeTiwi · free / SOV-leaningGupapuyngu · freeYimas · free / SOV-leaningLojban · free (SVO-like but operator-driven)American Sign Language · topic–comment (often SVO or OSV)British Sign Language · topic–commentChinese Sign Language · topic–commentFrench Sign Language · topic–commentNew Zealand Sign Language · topic–comment

Geographic distribution

Each dot is one attested language, coloured by the strategy it uses. Click a dot for the surface form.

SOV SVO VSO VOS OVS Free / no dominant

Marker positions are approximate cultural centres — they are not territorial claims. Tiles: OpenFreeMap · © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Language comparison

Language	Strategy	Expression	Note
Japanese Japonic	SOV	SOV	Dryer 2013
Korean Koreanic	SOV	SOV	Dryer 2013
Ainu Ainu (isolate, critically endangered)	SOV	SOV	verb-final; case marking + agreement Tamura 2000
Turkish Turkic › Oghuz	SOV	SOV	Dryer 2013
Azerbaijani Turkic › Oghuz	SOV	SOV
Turkmen Turkic › Oghuz	SOV	SOV
Uzbek Turkic › Karluk	SOV	SOV
Uyghur Turkic › Karluk	SOV	SOV
Kazakh Turkic › Kipchak	SOV	SOV
Kyrgyz Turkic › Kipchak	SOV	SOV
Tatar Turkic › Kipchak	SOV	SOV
Bashkir Turkic › Kipchak	SOV	SOV
Chuvash Turkic › Oghur	SOV	SOV
Sakha (Yakut) Turkic › Siberian	SOV	SOV
Mongolian (Khalkha) Mongolic	SOV	SOV
Buryat Mongolic	SOV	SOV
Kalmyk Mongolic	SOV	SOV
Manchu Tungusic	SOV	SOV
Evenki Tungusic	SOV	SOV
Hindi Indo-European › Indo-Aryan	SOV	SOV	Dryer 2013
Urdu Indo-European › Indo-Aryan	SOV	SOV
Bengali Indo-European › Indo-Aryan	SOV	SOV
Punjabi Indo-European › Indo-Aryan	SOV	SOV
Marathi Indo-European › Indo-Aryan	SOV	SOV
Gujarati Indo-European › Indo-Aryan	SOV	SOV
Nepali Indo-European › Indo-Aryan	SOV	SOV
Sinhala Indo-European › Indo-Aryan	SOV	SOV
Assamese Indo-European › Indo-Aryan	SOV	SOV
Odia Indo-European › Indo-Aryan	SOV	SOV
Sindhi Indo-European › Indo-Aryan	SOV	SOV
Pali Indo-European › Indo-Aryan (Middle, liturgical)	SOV	SOV	Pali grammars show pragmatically-flexible OV order
Persian (Farsi) Indo-European › Iranian	SOV	SOV
Tajik Indo-European › Iranian	SOV	SOV
Pashto Indo-European › Iranian	SOV	SOV
Kurdish (Kurmanji) Indo-European › Iranian	SOV	SOV	Kurmanji; some Sorani patterns differ
Ossetian Indo-European › Iranian	SOV	SOV
Balochi Indo-European › Iranian	SOV	SOV
Georgian Kartvelian	SOV	SOV	flexible but OV-leaning; some grammars list as "no dominant"
Mingrelian Kartvelian	SOV	SOV
Avar Northeast Caucasian	SOV	SOV
Lezgian Northeast Caucasian	SOV	SOV
Adyghe Northwest Caucasian	SOV	SOV
Abkhaz Northwest Caucasian	SOV	SOV
Armenian Indo-European › Armenian	SOV	SOV
Mansi Uralic › Ob-Ugric	SOV	SOV
Khanty Uralic › Ob-Ugric	SOV	SOV
Udmurt Uralic › Permic	SOV	SOV
Komi-Zyrian Uralic › Permic	SOV	SOV
Mari (Meadow) Uralic › Mari	SOV	SOV
Erzya (Mordvinic) Uralic › Mordvinic	SOV	SOV	OV-leaning but flexible
Finnish Uralic › Finnic	SVO	SVO	flexible word order; SVO is unmarked
Tibetan Sino-Tibetan › Bodish	SOV	SOV
Burmese Sino-Tibetan › Burmish	SOV	SOV
Yi (Nuosu) Sino-Tibetan › Loloish	SOV	SOV
Dzongkha Sino-Tibetan › Bodish	SOV	SOV
Newar Sino-Tibetan › Newaric	SOV	SOV
Meitei (Manipuri) Sino-Tibetan › Kuki-Chin-Naga	SOV	SOV
Lisu Sino-Tibetan › Loloish	SOV	SOV
Tamil Dravidian › Southern	SOV	SOV
Telugu Dravidian › South-Central	SOV	SOV
Kannada Dravidian › Southern	SOV	SOV
Malayalam Dravidian › Southern	SOV	SOV
Tulu Dravidian › Southern	SOV	SOV
Brahui Dravidian › Northern (isolated)	SOV	SOV
Basque Basque (isolate)	SOV	SOV	SOV unmarked; OSV / SVO permitted under focus
Inuktitut Eskimo-Aleut › Inuit	SOV	SOV
Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) Eskimo-Aleut › Inuit	SOV	SOV
Central Yupik Eskimo-Aleut › Yupik	SOV	SOV
Navajo Athabaskan	SOV	SOV
Cherokee Iroquoian	SOV	SOV	verb-final tendency but order is largely free
Cree Algic	Free / no dominant	free / no dominant
Ojibwe Algic	Free / no dominant	free / no dominant
Lakota Siouan	SOV	SOV
Hopi Uto-Aztecan	SOV	SOV
Quechua Quechuan	SOV	SOV
Aymara Aymaran	SOV	SOV
Guaraní Tupian	SOV	SOV	historically SOV; modern Paraguayan Guaraní shows SVO under Spanish contact
Amharic Afro-Asiatic › Semitic	SOV	SOV	Ethio-Semitic is verb-final (areal feature of the Ethiopian highlands)
Tigrinya Afro-Asiatic › Semitic	SOV	SOV
Somali Afro-Asiatic › Cushitic	SOV	SOV
Oromo Afro-Asiatic › Cushitic	SOV	SOV
Ket Yeniseian (isolate-like)	SOV	SOV
Chukchi Chukotko-Kamchatkan	SOV	SOV
Nivkh (Gilyak) isolate	SOV	SOV
Burushaski isolate	SOV	SOV
Kalam Trans-New Guinea › Kalam-Kobon	SOV	SOV	Trans-New Guinea family is strongly verb-final
Akkadian Afro-Asiatic › Semitic (historical)	SOV	SOV	verb-final unlike other Semitic; convergence with Sumerian
English Indo-European › Germanic	SVO	SVO
German Indo-European › Germanic	SVO	SVO / V2	matrix clauses are V2 (verb-second); embedded clauses are SOV
Dutch Indo-European › Germanic	SVO	SVO / V2	V2 matrix, SOV embedded — like German
Afrikaans Indo-European › Germanic	SVO	SVO / V2
Swedish Indo-European › Germanic	SVO	SVO / V2
Danish Indo-European › Germanic	SVO	SVO / V2
Norwegian Indo-European › Germanic	SVO	SVO / V2
Icelandic Indo-European › Germanic	SVO	SVO / V2
Faroese Indo-European › Germanic	SVO	SVO / V2
Yiddish Indo-European › Germanic	SVO	SVO / V2
French Indo-European › Romance	SVO	SVO
Spanish Indo-European › Romance	SVO	SVO	fairly flexible; SVO unmarked
Italian Indo-European › Romance	SVO	SVO
Portuguese Indo-European › Romance	SVO	SVO
Romanian Indo-European › Romance	SVO	SVO
Catalan Indo-European › Romance	SVO	SVO
Galician Indo-European › Romance	SVO	SVO
Occitan Indo-European › Romance	SVO	SVO
Romansh Indo-European › Romance	SVO	SVO
Sardinian Indo-European › Romance	SVO	SVO
Russian Indo-European › Slavic	SVO	SVO	flexible / pragmatically-driven; SVO is the unmarked default
Ukrainian Indo-European › Slavic	SVO	SVO
Belarusian Indo-European › Slavic	SVO	SVO
Polish Indo-European › Slavic	SVO	SVO	rich case allows scrambling
Czech Indo-European › Slavic	SVO	SVO
Slovak Indo-European › Slavic	SVO	SVO
Bulgarian Indo-European › Slavic	SVO	SVO
Macedonian Indo-European › Slavic	SVO	SVO
Serbian Indo-European › Slavic	SVO	SVO
Croatian Indo-European › Slavic	SVO	SVO
Slovenian Indo-European › Slavic	SVO	SVO
Greek (Modern) Indo-European › Hellenic	SVO	SVO	flexible
Albanian Indo-European › Albanian	SVO	SVO
Lithuanian Indo-European › Baltic	SVO	SVO	flexible
Latvian Indo-European › Baltic	SVO	SVO
Estonian Uralic › Finnic	SVO	SVO
Mandarin Chinese Sino-Tibetan › Sinitic	SVO	SVO	with topicalisation it can surface as OSV
Cantonese Sino-Tibetan › Sinitic	SVO	SVO
Wu (Shanghainese) Sino-Tibetan › Sinitic	SVO	SVO
Min Nan (Hokkien) Sino-Tibetan › Sinitic	SVO	SVO
Hakka Sino-Tibetan › Sinitic	SVO	SVO
Vietnamese Austroasiatic › Vietic	SVO	SVO
Thai Tai-Kadai › Tai	SVO	SVO
Lao Tai-Kadai › Tai	SVO	SVO
Khmer Austroasiatic › Khmeric	SVO	SVO
Mon Austroasiatic › Monic	SVO	SVO
Zhuang Tai-Kadai › Tai	SVO	SVO
Shan Tai-Kadai › Tai	SVO	SVO
Hmong Hmong-Mien	SVO	SVO
Khasi Austroasiatic › Khasic	SVO	SVO
Santali Austroasiatic › Munda	SOV	SOV	Munda branch of Austroasiatic is SOV (areal contact with Indo-Aryan)
Indonesian Austronesian › Malayic	SVO	SVO
Malay Austronesian › Malayic	SVO	SVO
Javanese Austronesian › Javanic	SVO	SVO
Sundanese Austronesian › Sundic	SVO	SVO
Acehnese Austronesian › Chamic	SVO	SVO
Balinese Austronesian › Bali-Sasak	SVO	SVO
Minangkabau Austronesian › Malayic	SVO	SVO
Palauan Austronesian › Sunda-Sulawesi	SVO	SVO
Marshallese Austronesian › Oceanic	SVO	SVO
Swahili Atlantic-Congo › Bantu	SVO	SVO
Zulu Atlantic-Congo › Bantu	SVO	SVO
Xhosa Atlantic-Congo › Bantu	SVO	SVO
Shona Atlantic-Congo › Bantu	SVO	SVO
Chichewa (Nyanja) Atlantic-Congo › Bantu	SVO	SVO
Kinyarwanda Atlantic-Congo › Bantu	SVO	SVO
Kirundi Atlantic-Congo › Bantu	SVO	SVO
Luganda Atlantic-Congo › Bantu	SVO	SVO
Kikuyu (Gĩkũyũ) Atlantic-Congo › Bantu	SVO	SVO
Lingala Atlantic-Congo › Bantu	SVO	SVO
Kongo (Kikongo) Atlantic-Congo › Bantu	SVO	SVO
Tsonga Atlantic-Congo › Bantu	SVO	SVO
Yoruba Atlantic-Congo › Volta-Niger	SVO	SVO
Igbo Atlantic-Congo › Volta-Niger	SVO	SVO
Akan (Twi) Atlantic-Congo › Kwa	SVO	SVO
Ewe Atlantic-Congo › Kwa	SVO	SVO
Fon Atlantic-Congo › Kwa	SVO	SVO
Wolof Atlantic-Congo › Atlantic	SVO	SVO
Fula (Fulfulde) Atlantic-Congo › Atlantic	SVO	SVO
Bambara Mande	SOV	SOV	Mande is SOV — unusual for Niger-Congo, where SVO dominates
Sango Atlantic-Congo › Ubangian (creolised)	SVO	SVO
Hausa Afro-Asiatic › Chadic	SVO	SVO
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic Afro-Asiatic › Semitic	SVO	SVO	shift from classical VSO Aramaic
Maltese Afro-Asiatic › Semitic	SVO	SVO	shift from classical VSO Arabic
Egyptian Arabic Afro-Asiatic › Semitic	SVO	SVO
Moroccan Arabic (Darija) Afro-Asiatic › Semitic	SVO	SVO
Hebrew (Modern) Afro-Asiatic › Semitic	SVO	SVO	Modern Hebrew is SVO; Biblical Hebrew was VSO
Dinka Nilo-Saharan › Western Nilotic	SVO	SVO
Dholuo Nilo-Saharan › Western Nilotic	SVO	SVO
Tok Pisin English-based creole (Pacific)	SVO	SVO
Mohawk Iroquoian	Free / no dominant	free / no dominant
Nahuatl Uto-Aztecan	SVO	SVO	historically VSO, modern dialects often SVO under Spanish contact
Esperanto Constructed (a posteriori, Indo-European-based)	SVO	SVO	accusative -n permits scrambling; SVO is by-far the dominant pattern
Welsh Indo-European › Celtic	VSO	VSO	literary Welsh; colloquial uses periphrastic auxiliaries
Irish Indo-European › Celtic	VSO	VSO
Scottish Gaelic Indo-European › Celtic	VSO	VSO
Breton Indo-European › Celtic	VSO	VSO
Cornish Indo-European › Celtic	VSO	VSO
Manx Indo-European › Celtic	VSO	VSO
Arabic (MSA) Afro-Asiatic › Semitic	VSO	VSO	Classical Arabic; MSA permits SVO; many spoken dialects are SVO
Biblical Hebrew Afro-Asiatic › Semitic (historical)	VSO	VSO
Classical Syriac Afro-Asiatic › Semitic (historical)	VSO	VSO
Tamazight (Berber) Afro-Asiatic › Berber	VSO	VSO
Maasai Nilo-Saharan › Eastern Nilotic	VSO	VSO
Tagalog (Filipino) Austronesian › Philippine	VSO	VSO / VOS	Philippine-type voice system; verb-initial
Cebuano Austronesian › Philippine	VSO	VSO / VOS
Ilocano Austronesian › Philippine	VSO	VSO
Hiligaynon Austronesian › Philippine	VSO	VSO
Samoan Austronesian › Polynesian	VSO	VSO
Tongan Austronesian › Polynesian	VSO	VSO
Hawaiian Austronesian › Polynesian	VSO	VSO	also reports of VOS in stative clauses
Māori Austronesian › Polynesian	VSO	VSO
Tahitian Austronesian › Polynesian	VSO	VSO
Fijian Austronesian › Oceanic	VSO	VSO
Yucatec Maya Mayan	VOS	VOS	V-initial with VOS as primary; VSO permitted
Kʼicheʼ Mayan	VSO	VSO
Mam Mayan	VSO	VSO
Tzotzil Mayan	VOS	VOS
Zapotec Otomanguean	VSO	VSO
Mixtec Otomanguean	VSO	VSO
Malagasy Austronesian › Malayo-Polynesian (Barito)	VOS	VOS	textbook example; Verb – Object – Subject
Hixkaryana Cariban	OVS	OVS	Derbyshire 1979; the canonical Object-initial language
Latin Indo-European › Italic (historical)	Free / no dominant	free / no dominant	pragmatically-driven; SOV statistically the most common in Classical prose
Ancient Greek Indo-European › Hellenic (historical)	Free / no dominant	free / no dominant
Sanskrit Indo-European › Indo-Aryan (historical / liturgical)	Free / no dominant	free / no dominant	SOV statistically most common but order is famously flexible
Old Church Slavonic Indo-European › Slavic (historical)	Free / no dominant	free / no dominant
Gothic Indo-European › Germanic (historical)	Free / no dominant	free / no dominant
Hungarian Uralic › Ugric	Free / no dominant	free / no dominant	word order is information-structure-driven (topic + focus)
Northern Sami Uralic › Sami	Free / no dominant	free / no dominant
Coptic Afro-Asiatic › Egyptian (historical / liturgical)	SVO	SVO
Warlpiri Pama-Nyungan	Free / no dominant	free / no dominant	famously non-configurational; case marking + agreement carry the load
Dyirbal Pama-Nyungan	Free / no dominant	free / no dominant
Pitjantjatjara Pama-Nyungan	Free / no dominant	free / no dominant
Khoekhoe (Nama) Khoe-Kwadi (with clicks)	SOV	SOV
Juǀ’hoan Tuu / Kx’a (with clicks)	SVO	SVO
Wayuu (Wayuunaiki) Arawakan	SOV	SOV	Arawakan; SOV documented in modern grammars
Franco-Provençal (Arpitan) Indo-European › Romance	SVO	SVO
Walloon Indo-European › Romance	SVO	SVO
Piedmontese Indo-European › Romance	SVO	SVO
Ligurian Indo-European › Romance	SVO	SVO
Lombard Indo-European › Romance	SVO	SVO
Corsican Indo-European › Romance	SVO	SVO
Asturian Indo-European › Romance	SVO	SVO
Romagnol Indo-European › Romance	SVO	SVO
Extremaduran Indo-European › Romance	SVO	SVO
Chavacano Spanish-based creole	SVO	SVO
Papiamento Portuguese-/Spanish-based creole	SVO	SVO
Old English Indo-European › Germanic (historical)	Free / no dominant	free / mixed OV-VO	Old English; OV and VO both attested, V2 features in matrix clauses
Middle English Indo-European › Germanic (historical)	SVO	SVO	shifts to fixed SVO during the Middle English period
Old French Indo-European › Romance (historical)	SVO	V2 / SVO	Old French is V2; modern French has lost it
Old Welsh Indo-European › Celtic (historical)	VSO	VSO
Geʽez Afro-Asiatic › Semitic (liturgical)	VSO	VSO
Harari Afro-Asiatic › Semitic	SOV	SOV
Dahalo Afro-Asiatic › Cushitic (with clicks)	SOV	SOV
Aequian Indo-European (historical Italic-adjacent)	Free / no dominant	free	minimal corpus
Punic Afro-Asiatic › Semitic (historical Phoenician)	VSO	VSO
Phoenician Afro-Asiatic › Semitic (historical)	VSO	VSO
Sumerian isolate (historical)	SOV	SOV	isolate; verb-final
Elamite isolate (historical)	SOV	SOV
Hittite Indo-European › Anatolian (historical)	SOV	SOV	Anatolian IE; verb-final
Old Egyptian Afro-Asiatic › Egyptian (historical)	Free / no dominant	free / VSO-leaning	Old Egyptian VSO; later stages drift
Saraiki Indo-European › Indo-Aryan	SOV	SOV
Jeju Koreanic	SOV	SOV
Mixe (Ayuujk) Mixe-Zoquean	VOS	VOS	Mixe-Zoquean generally V-initial
Zoque Mixe-Zoquean	VOS	VOS
Tarahumara (Rarámuri) Uto-Aztecan	SOV	SOV
Bribri Chibchan	SOV	SOV
Kuna (Guna) Chibchan	SOV	SOV
Kogi Chibchan	SOV	SOV
Cha’palaa Barbacoan	SOV	SOV
Yanomamö Yanomaman	SOV	SOV
Halkomelem Salishan	VSO	VSO
Squamish Salishan	VSO	VSO
Kwak’wala Wakashan	VSO	VSO
Tsimshian Tsimshianic	VSO	VSO
Nez Perce Sahaptian	Free / no dominant	free / SOV-leaning
Wailaki Athabaskan (California)	SOV	SOV
Murrinh-Patha Southern Daly	Free / no dominant	free
Tiwi Tiwian (isolate-like)	Free / no dominant	free / SOV-leaning
Gupapuyngu Pama-Nyungan › Yolŋu	Free / no dominant	free
Yimas Lower Sepik	Free / no dominant	free / SOV-leaning
Yelî Dnye Yele (isolate)	SOV	SOV
!Xóõ (Taa) Tuu (with clicks)	SVO	SVO
Karamojong Nilo-Saharan › Eastern Nilotic	VSO	VSO
Teso Nilo-Saharan › Eastern Nilotic	VSO	VSO
Zaghawa Nilo-Saharan › Saharan	SOV	SOV
Ido Constructed (a posteriori, Esperanto offshoot)	SVO	SVO
Volapük Constructed (a posteriori)	SVO	SVO
Lojban Constructed (logical / a priori)	Free / no dominant	free (SVO-like but operator-driven)	predicate-argument logical structure; gismu order is flexible via prenex
Klingon Constructed (fictional)	OVS	OVS	Marc Okrand deliberately picked OVS as a typological rarity
Quenya Constructed (fictional, Tolkien)	SVO	SVO	Tolkien Quenya is broadly SVO with poetic flexibility
American Sign Language Sign language	Free / no dominant	topic–comment (often SVO or OSV)	topic-prominent; analysis depends on theoretical framework
British Sign Language Sign language	Free / no dominant	topic–comment
Japanese Sign Language Sign language	SOV	SOV	tends toward verb-final, like spoken Japanese
Chinese Sign Language Sign language	Free / no dominant	topic–comment
French Sign Language Sign language	Free / no dominant	topic–comment
New Zealand Sign Language Sign language	Free / no dominant	topic–comment

Examples

Toggle between Natural / Literal / Gloss to see how each language conceptualises the same idea.

Japanese · 日本語

猫が魚を食べる。

neko ga sakana wo taberu.

Natural: The cat eats the fish.

English

The cat eats the fish.

Natural: The cat eats the fish.

Welsh · Cymraeg

Mae’r gath yn bwyta’r pysgodyn.

Natural: The cat eats the fish.

Malagasy

Mihinana ny trondro ny saka.

Natural: The cat eats the fish.

References

Comrie 1989
Comrie, Bernard (1989).

Language Universals and Linguistic Typology.

2nd edition. Blackwell.
Croft 1990
Croft, William (1990).

Typology and Universals.

Cambridge University Press.
Dryer 2013
Dryer, Matthew S. (2013).

Order of Subject, Object and Verb.

In Dryer, Matthew S.; Haspelmath, Martin (eds.), WALS Online (v2020.4), Chapter 81. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. https://wals.info/chapter/81
Dryer & Haspelmath 2013
Dryer, Matthew S.; Haspelmath, Martin (2013).

The World Atlas of Language Structures Online.

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. https://wals.info
Tamura 2000
Tamura, Suzuko (2000).

The Ainu Language.

ICHEL Linguistic Studies, Vol. 2. Sanseido, Tokyo.

Strategies

Geographic distribution

Language comparison

Examples

References

Related patterns